Ferreirinha Vintage Port identification

During a visit to the Douro in 2019, a friend very generously opened and shared an old bottle of Ferreirinha-labelled port with a severely degraded label. Naturally this led to an attempt to identify the bottle, and subsequently expanded into a more general attempt to identify and understand the markings of the "Ferreirinha"-labelled Vintage Ports.

Initial bottle identifications

While visiting a friend in 2019 we were sharing some vintage ports; towards the end of dinner our host very generously brought out and opened a very special old bottle, with a highly degraded label (bottle A). We were told that the bottle was "believed to possibly be 1863 or 1815...". The port was fascinating to try, and we could recognise the label style as being that of the "Ferreirinha" label comprising feathers and medals on white background, with some red text at the bottom (possibly "(P)ORTO").

On return from the trip, I decided to spend some time subsequently to further confirm the identify of the bottle as far as might be possible, and as a friend had sent me images of another bottle with similar label design which he had previously tasted but which had not been fully identified (bottle B), I therefore set out to try and identify both as far as possible.

The following images show the original bottle, the labels of both bottles and enhanced detail from the bottom of each label where the red text is visible:

Bottle A	Bottle A label	Bottle B label

Enhanced detail for Bottle A	Enhanced detail for Bottle B

On improving the photo of the label of bottle A, the design is in quite recognisable as the "Ferreirinha" label, comprising feathers and medals, and of which I had previously seen several examples, though never tasted.

At this stage I did not know during what period these particular Ferreirinha labels had been in use, only that it had to be during the 20th Century since the left-most medal on the design is dated from Paris 1900. The medals show front and back of each, and from left to right are labelled Grand Prix Paris 1900, Philadelphia 1876, Vienna 1873 and Paris 1867. From information supplied later by the Sogrape Historical Archive, it is understood that the labels were in use from the 1930s until some time in the 1950s or 1960s.

On searching for other similar bottles, there are a considerable number of bottles which can be found using this label, with different red text along the bottom of the label. Having found many reference images and compared these to the enhanced details above, I concluded that:

• Bottle A is believed to be Ferreirinha "PORTO T/1875"
• Bottle B is believed to be Ferreirinha "ARNOZELLO", probably "T/1870"

For Bottle A, this is based on matching of the "ORTO" with "PORTO" (position, colour and style), and in descriminating between the vintage and non-vintage "PORTO"-labelled bottles, it is noted that there is further red printing to the right of "PORTO" on this bottle's label, which while not legible is consistent with the placement of the expected red "T/1875" (whereas if this were the non-vintage "PORTO" labelled bottle, there would be no red printing to the right of the word "PORTO" on the label).

For Bottle B, this is based on matching of the letter fragments and positions with "ARNOZELLO" on other example labels. There is no red printing visible where the "T/1870" would be expected, so this could be non-vintage "ARNOZELLO" - however the only other examples seen with "ARNOZELLO" have all been vintage "T/1870", and the "ARNOZELLO" text would otherwise be oddly off-centered, so although not certain it seems most probably that the "T/1870" red text has simply faded.

Broader identification of the range of markings on Ferreirinha labels

Having identified these two bottles, but found a very large range of different red text on different bottles using this label style, I wanted to understand the markings further. With help from Sogrape Historical Archives, and having gathered as many images as I could find of the Ferreirinha-labelled bottles, the following is a list of the known markings, and believed style of wine as grouped below.

Single Quinta Vintage* Ports:

• VEZUVIO T 1863
• VARGELLAS T 1868
• ARNOZELLO T 1870
• ACYPRESTES T 1872
• PORTO T 1875
• RODO T 1877

Vintage* Ports:

• DUQUE DE BRAGANCA T 1815
• PRINCIPE DE GALLES T 1840 (no image available)
• 1847
• "1887"

Single Quinta non-vintage:

• GRANJA
• VALLADO
• QUINTA DO PORTO
• RODO
• ACYPRESTES (alourado – adamado) tawny, slightly sweet (lit.)

Other:

• DUQUE DE BRAGANCA (with no T 1815) this _might_ be 1895 vintage, though perhaps unlikely without date, or something else
• PRINCIPE DE GALLES (with no T 1840) this _might_ be 1840 vintage since I have no image with date, or later release, though seems unlikely without; perhaps something else
• LAGRIMA (assumed very sweet white)
• LAGRIMA CHRISTI VELHA (branco dourado – muito doce) (lit. Golden white, very sweet)
• No1
• No2
• SECO ALOURADO SECO (assumed to be a dry tawny)
• SECCO No. 1
• SECCO No. 3
• PORT No. 75
• MOSCATEL (assumed to be a fortified muscat)

*Note that this is not "vintage" in terms of the modern use of the term; here the term means only that the wine is made from grapes grown and harvested in that year, rather than defining the periods of time spent in cask and bottle.

Thus, the dated wines are believed to have been from the specified years' harvests; some are also from a single quinta (e.g. "VESUVIO T 1863"), while others might have included grapes from more than one vineyard (e.g. "PRINCIPE DE GALLES T 1840"). It is interesting to see single quinta non-vintage wines, presumably a blend of multiple years from the specified quinta along the lines of crusted/tawny blends, though without today's rules on their creation.

It is noted that many of the bottles do not appear old enough to be from the 19th century, though without seeing them first hand it is difficult to tell for some. Given the use of these labels is known to be from 1930-50/60, it is believable that many of the bottles might also be from that period, implying bottling (or rebottling, which is not known to have occured) during that period.